Whatever Stirs Your Coffee
by Hathor
Summary: Daniel has had too much coffee and too little sleep when Jack calls around (Alpha Gate Challenge Response). *Warning: Contains Slash*


Title: Whatever Stirs Your Coffee  
Author: TheGeekGirl  
Email: fanfic@thegeekgirl.com  
Rating: PG-13  
Pairings: J/D  
Category: Angst  
Date: June 2002  
Series: Reponse to Alpha Gate Friday Fic Challenge  
Website: http://www.thegeekgirl.com/fanfic/  
Archive: Alpha Gate, Area52  
  
Disclaimer: Sadly these characters are not mine, they belong to TPTB. But I'm keeping my Daniel clone cause a girl's gotta get her fix somehow ! :)  
  
Notes: The title comes from a reply Michael Shanks gave when he was asked what he thought about J/D slash fiction at the SG-4 convention. This is my first attempt at blatant slash...so please bear with me if its icky. Many thanks to Dale (with Cha'Ka!) for being an impromptu beta :)  
  
Summary: Daniel has had too much coffee and too little sleep when Jack drops by to see him.  
  
Warnings: Contains slash  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~* Whatever Stirs Your Coffee *~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
Daniel tapped the pencil against the arm of his glasses and peered at the array of books sprawled in front of him and all over the sofa. He glanced back down at the high quality photograph on his lap. The inscription on the stone tablet was a prayer or a chant of some sort he guessed. The stanzas in the line suggested that much, as did the context in which the inscription was found. One did not find recipes for walnut cookies next to sacred altars - well not usually.  
  
Daniel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The answer was there, somewhere in the maelstrom of information that was spinning around his mind. Sighing in frustration he lent forward to pick his coffee mug off the floor, wincing as his neck cricked into place. The cold bitter liquid made him wrinkle his nose in distaste and detangling himself from his books, he headed towards the dark kitchen, pouring the coffee cup dregs into a nearby plant pot on the way. Damnit, the answer was there, it was skittering around the weary edges of his mind. More coffee, Daniel thought. He just needed to concentrate, to unravel the labyrinthine clues that would lead him to the answer.  
  
Yawning, Daniel ran his free hand through his hair, a gesture he had unconsciously picked up from Jack. It was 2am and the road outside was quiet as he padded barefoot into the kitchen. He flicked the light switch, the garishness of the overhead fluorescent tube made him frown as it flickered into existence, as if it had intruded upon his thoughts. Yawning again he reached for the bag of rich coffee beans from the cupboard whilst looking around for the grinder. He eventually found it skulking behind the microwave and pulled it out into the open, inhaling the scent of the oily beans as he opened the bag.   
  
The noise of the grinder seemed unquestionably loud in the stillness of Daniel's dark apartment. The only other noise intruding on his thoughts was the soporific soft gurgling of his fish tank. He filled the coffee machine with water and began meandering back towards his books, however a soft knock at the door stopped him short. Daniel frowned trying to determine who would be calling on him at this hour. He walked to the door, took one look through the security peephole and rolled his eyes. Pulling the door open, he glared at the man outside.  
  
"Jack!" he exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing here?" Daniel scratched the back of his neck while pinning Jack with a stare from over the top of his glasses. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"  
  
Jack looked at Daniel, taking in the standard issue SGC green t-shirt and the old soft denim jeans, frayed over the bare feet. Damn the man looked downright sexy, even if it was the middle of the night. Obviously Daniel had still been up, and still working, if he knew his archaeologist as half as well as he thought he did.  
  
"Daniel. Hi." he said as nonchalantly as he could manage. Daniel raised an eyebrow as he waited for his questions to be answered and Jack ploughed on. "Sure I do. It's..." he stole a glance at the watch on Daniel's wrist, "...2am".  
  
"Uh-huh..." the archaeologist replied, rather non-plussed and turned to pad back into the kitchen, leaving the door open for Jack to enter. Daniel decided that Jack probably either had one, a very good reason for being there, or two, no reason at all. He yawned again and grabbed another mug from a cupboard and poured the dark vibrant liquid out of the pot for both of them, inhaling the scent deeply, feeling it rejuvenate his tired neurons.   
  
Jack having thrown his leather jacket onto the sofa had followed Daniel and now leant against the lintel of the kitchen doorway, observing the other man's indulgence. When he spoke, his voice made Daniel jump.  
  
"Addict," he accused. Daniel just shrugged as he handed Jack a steaming mug of coffee, accepting the charge against him. Jack waved the photograph of the stone tablet in his other hand, his tone reprimanding. "And just like any other addict, you think that the answer is at the bottom of the next...mug."  
  
"Jack...please don't start," Daniel said wearily as he settled down on one of the stools by the breakfast bar. He glanced up to look at the Colonel. Jack's face seemed to war between amusement and concern. "So, are you going to tell me what you are doing coming around at gone 2am in the morning?"  
  
Jack opened his mouth to emit a flippant comment but closed it again. When he did speak, his tone was softer than Daniel could remember in a very long time. "I was worried about you," he said gently.  
  
"I'm..."  
  
"Fine. No Daniel you're not. You've been through a difficult experience."  
  
"It wasn't that bad Jack. Honestly. I've been through worse." Jack remembered looking down at Daniel, trapped in Machello's body, comatose in the infirmary and he tried to suppress the shudder that ran through him. "Besides I wasn't the only one stuck in the 'Adventure of the Body Snatchers'," he said, looking meaningfully at Jack. Jack waved away his concern with one hand.  
  
"I know, Daniel but..."  
  
Daniel's impatience finally got the better of him. "But what Jack? Just what? You came all the way over here at 2 o'clock in the morning because what? The little civilian archaeologist might not be coping so well...."  
  
Jack flinched at the painful word before his eyes hardened. "No, Daniel, I didn't mean that at all..." His words were flat, making Daniel want to retract what he had just said, but he was so tired and goddamn it, Jack's mother hen routine wore thin after a while. He had been having a quiet evening doing what he loved the best when Jack had shown up.  
  
"Then what did you mean Jack?" Daniel asked as he studied the surface of the breakfast bar, not wanting to see the pain he had just caused reflected in Jack's face. Again the weariness was apparent in his voice despite all the caffeine pumping through his veins. Jack moved to the sink to upturn half the contents of his mug to drain, before placing it on the work surface. He leant on both of his arms, looking out through the small window in front of him and into the dark night. After a few moments, the Colonel turned.  
  
"I was just worried because..." Daniel looked up at Jack expectantly as he took a breath before continuing "...because I care, Daniel." The softness and concern in Jack's eyes made Daniel blink in surprise.  
  
"You care?" Daniel asked in a small surprised tone, making it sound as though no one had every told him that before. Jack sighed, a 'for cryin' out loud' hovering on his lips. He swallowed it and nodded solemnly once.  
  
"Oh!" said Daniel.  
  
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That's all you have to say?"  
  
"Urm..yeah. Oh."  
  
The expression came back in full force. "For cryin' out loud, Daniel, can't you see what I am trying to say!?"   
  
"That...you care...for me.." Daniel said quietly, as through trying the expression on for size. Jack took two quick steps across the kitchen to stand in front of where Daniel sat.  
  
"Yes!" he said vehemently. Damnit, Jack thought, he really wasn't good at all this emotional stuff. He grasped Daniel's head gently in his hands, cupping his jaws, so that his thumbs could gently stroke over Daniel's cheeks. His voice dropped an octave as he looked tenderly into Daniel's bright blue eyes. "Yes, yes I care about you Daniel. I care about you a lot..." Jack's voice was a rough whisper. He looked down at where Daniel was seated, their eyes connecting as Jack tried to tell him with just a look what he could not vocalise between them.  
  
Daniel stared up into the dark brown depths as Jack stood over him and suddenly he saw it, he saw the words that Jack could not speak. Daniel's tongue flickered out over his dry lips, as he found his voice, low and gravelly as he made the decision.  
  
"Show me..." he demanded.  
  
Jack blinked at him, but needed no further encouragement as he curled one hand around Daniel's right bicep and the other around his neck to pull the archaeologist to his feet. Jack swept a thumb across the other man's cheek and then down over his lips, silently asking if Daniel was ready. Daniel leant into the touch, his eyes flickering shut for a moment. With a hand, shaking with mostly nervousness laced with a flare of excitement, Jack carefully reached up and removed Daniel's glasses. Reverently he set them on the breakfast bar, before capturing Daniel's head between his rough hands again. He leant in; inhaling Daniel's scent the same way Daniel had smelt the coffee earlier.  
  
"Daniel..." he breathed, before he gently touched his own lips to Daniel, his eyes fluttering shut at the sensation of the gently contact. The kiss was chaste to begin with but then Daniel surged against Jack opening the kiss up to him, a strong arm coming up to grasp the older man around the waist. Daniel tasted of coffee, thought Jack. Coffee combined with the taste that was surely the man himself. Daniel's free hand snaked up to behind Jack's neck, pulling the slightly taller man closer to him, pulling their bodies into full contact. Strength was in place of the known softness, a woody musky scent instead of a light heady perfume. Jack groaned under the onslaught to his senses, pulling back slightly as he tried to control his erratic breathing. Reluctantly Daniel released Jack's mouth, but his grasp on his best friend stayed iron tight.  
  
"Daniel..." Jack began, his face flushed but Daniel put a finger on his lip.   
  
"Jack.." Daniel said interrupting. "Jack, I care too..." he said softly. "I always have.."  
  
"You..you have?" Jack said stunned, and then his irascible behaviour returned in full force. "You do! Well...wooohooo!" he said as he threw his head back in joy. Daniel smacked him on the arm, trying to bring him back to reality and the two stepped a little way apart, yet their fingers still in contact with each other's body.  
  
"I have a question though," Daniel said, his mind working in overdrive to try and sort out the myriad of questions warring with the recently awoken desire. Jack sobered for a moment and stood there expectantly. Daniel was taken aback at having Jack's full attention, something that was a rare occurrence, especially when neither of them were in any immediate mortal danger. Jack motioned for Daniel to speak.  
  
"Why?" was all he asked, as he picked his glasses up from the breakfast bar and placed them back on his face, bringing Jack's features into sharp focus.  
  
"I don't know Danny. I've been asking myself the same question for months now.." Daniel's eyebrows shot up his forehead at the word 'months'. "..And you know there was only one answer I could come up with."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"Whatever stirs your coffee, I guess."  
  
Daniel gave him a look over the top of his glasses. "Well, that's...profound... Jack" he said dryly as he nudged him out of the kitchen.  
  
"Well it was the best I came up with," Jack shrugged as Daniel turned and flicked off the kitchen light. "So what do you think?"  
  
"About whatever stirs your coffee?" Jack nodded in the semi darkness.  
  
Daniel's reply was soft but carried an undertone of amusement.  
  
"I think that you do, Jack. I think that you do."  
  
  
  
~ The End ~ 


End file.
